Oct 1-10 1999

From merope@Radix.Net Fri Oct 1 17:24:06 1999

Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 17:24:05 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

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As seen on TV!...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Wednesday 29 September 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Tomorrow's News Today: The NC suggests that the Board might want to

consider filling the vacancy left when Bonnie McVicar-Briggs resigned.

DIY Corner: For those of you curious as to how you might get posts

removed from the Root$web archives, the following instructions from RW's

CEO Robert Tillman have been making the rounds:

"1. Search the RootsWeb for all of your posts. Write down the URLs for all

posts that you wish to remove. RootsWeb URLs change daily, so you must use

the information the same day your write it down. [Ed. note: you have to

search _both_ the threaded and the interactive archives.]

2. Go to the URL of the threaded archive tool:

<http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/remove>. Enter in the URLs for all

of the posts that you wish to remove. Follow the directions on this page.

3. Go to the URL of the threaded archive tool:

<http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/remove>. Enter in the URLs for all

of the posts that you wish to remove. Follow the directions on this page.

[Ed. note: the correct url is:

http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/removal/submit]

4. This process has been designed so that only the person who actually

posted a message can remove it. In addition, such removal can only be

accomplished from the original email address from which such message was

posted. Both of these requirements are for security reasons. You can

imagine that havoc that someone could create in the RootsWeb archives if

it any other procedure were followed.

5. You have control over the removal process. You may remove only one,

some or all of your posts. You may also remove a post and come back later

and remove additional posts. You decide.

6. As a further safety measure, a RootsWeb staff member will review each

post that you have requested be removed.

7. Finally, please understand that when you remove messages from the

archives, you will AUTOMATICALLY lose your RootsWeb posting privileges for

life. You may still freely access the RootsWeb site. You may simply not

make any posts to the site. To date, we have not removed posting

privileges for most of you. Please consider your decision carefully before

acting."

Well, isn't that _special_? As someone pointed out to me earlier, not

only do you get to remove your own posts, Root$web makes money off you

everytime you do. There's also no provision for those of us who want our

posts removed but no longer have the same email address. And no

provision for those among us who have been permanently banned from

accessing any of Root$web's resources. Still, at least their policy of

banning anyone who asks to have a post removed is now apparently

"official".

[Note to those who may want to do this: These tips are submitted by

someone who's tried it; she reports they work rather well. Rather than

writing down all the URLs you want to delete, open two browser windows and

copy and paste between them. Also, when you get the confirmation emails

what until you have a whole bunch, then click the confirmation url and use

the alt-tab trick between the browser and your email program. You can do

hundreds at a time and it takes only a few minutes.]

The Root of All Evil Corner: New ad sponsors seen at RW: Virginia Power,

and that annoying monkey. You know the one, you've seen it everywhere.

The one from Treeloot.com. The particular version RW is running encourages

violence against animals by urging you to "punch the monkey and win $20!"

<g>

"Nothing is more gratifying to the mind of man than power or dominion."

---Joseph Addison

This has been Your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

-----------

From merope@Radix.Net Sun Oct 3 12:12:30 1999

Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 12:12:29 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991003114905.24094A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

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See you on the dark side of the moon....its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Thursday 30 September 1999:

The NC posts the following: "Now that we have the Secretary issue out of

the way, what say you on filling the vacancy left by Bonnie's

resignation?"

Friday 1 Oct 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date

New Toys Corner: According to a message sent out yesterday by Dale "Doc"

Schneider, the main www/users box at Root$web is down and not

available and there is no idea when it might be fixed. This is apparently

the new server that was brought online about a week ago, and things are

running on the old www server until they can fix it. So for those of you

who've noticed your pages have suddenly reverted to two week old versions

and you can't get into FTP, that is apparently why.

Trouble In Paradise Corner: Many folks have noticed a distinct lack of

posts on the soc.genealogy.surnames newsgroup hierarchy. The

"automoderator" at Root$web has apparently been broken since September 24.

This program reviews all messages sent to the newsgroups and the

corresponding mailing lists at RW, and apparently "it did not survive the

upgrade to the server that runs it." According to one of the volunteers

who moderates the newsgroups, Root$web's "chief technical guru" is aware

of the problem and will fix it when he has time. In the meantime, all

posts sent to the surname newsgroups after Sept 24 are most likely lost

and will have to be reposted when the automoderator is up again.

"New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other

reason but because they are not already common."

---John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

-------

From merope@Radix.Net Tue Oct 5 08:08:03 1999

Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1999 08:08:01 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991004203559.14624A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Fact is stranger than truth...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk.

Saturday 2 October 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Sunday 3 Oct 1999:

Shari Handley discusses the vacant NE/NC Board rep position. She first

cites the relevant portion of the bylaws that charges the Board with

appointing a replacement, and opines that it would be possible to appoint

Bonnie's runner-up from the interim election in January but she thinks

that is flawed: "Imagine a congressional post made available by a

resignation being filled by the resigning congressperson's opponent."

[This position might make some sense if USGW had political parties and

every election pitted a member of one party against a member of the

other.] She goes on to suggest, "What if we put out a call for

those who would like to take over the NE/NC CC Rep position? We allow 1

week ... for these folks to announce to us their desire to fill the

vacancy and to submit a short blurb ... spelling out their qualifications

and why they'd like to represent the CCs in this region. These

announcement/resumes can be sent to either the NC or to the Board

Secretary, who can in turn forward them to the BOARD-EXEC list."

A Little Light Reading Corner: DBS Publications is pleased to announce

the latest addition to the USGW History Project. We hope you enjoy

reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it!

http://www.radix.net/~merope/history/chapter6.htm

"Evil doers, eat my Justice!"

--- The Tick

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

------

From merope@Radix.Net Wed Oct 6 11:36:05 1999

Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1999 11:36:04 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991006092707.12412A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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The gods too are fond of a joke...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* its a good day for editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Monday 5 October 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Breaking Precedent Corner: We've received word from a little bird that

the Board's apparent break with tradition in filling the vacant NE/NC

position comes not from any concern with the propriety of appointing

someone the voters didn't approve, but from the fact that Bonnie's

runner-up in the special election was David Young. Seems they don't want

to let David back in the club. Something about him being too wordy and

obscure and also something about them not being sure where he stands on

certain "critical" issues.

Pardon Me, Your Agenda Is Showing Corner: And what might those critical

issues be, you wonder? Well, from BOARD-EXEC, here's what

your NC wants to accomplish during this term:

"1. Appointment or lack thereof of a new Secretary

2. Having an required announce list for making announcements to the

general membership

3. Creation of a permanent Election Committee

4. Creation or approval of a Bylaws Reform committee

5. Bylaws Reform addressing the issue of removal of Board members, NC

and/or other officials

6. Defining what circumstances allow the creation of other Special

Projects

7. Defining the role, relationship, composition, hierarchy of the Digital

Library

8. Promotion of Project Purity - suggesting to the States that while the

Project has no problem with a CC hosting sites for other organizations -

the sites need to be separate pages - ie no dual pages for USGW, ALHN,

GenForum or whatnot. From what I've seen several states are already ahead

of us on this."

He ends the post with "I'd like to ask that what's said on this list stay

on this list, except for the items that I've said I'll post to the Board-L

list." [must be that new "spirit of openness" again]

How Do They Find the Time? Corner: Tim Stowell, who is the NC, an SC for

Georgia and North Dakota, active on the TNGW Board, and CC for numerous

counties in several states, is running for SC in Wisconsin.

Update on the News Corner: As of last night, the administrative contacts

on the usgenweb.org and usgenweb.net domains have not been changed and

still show Root$web employee Nancy Trice as the contact. This is despite

Brian Leverich's statement on September 10, 1999 that he would have the

contacts changed. It is now 7 months since the Advisory Board first

requested that these changes be made.

Starz In Their Eyes Corner: We are pleased to report that the DBS has a

fan page! You can see it at:

http://members.aol.com/~bobbieblack/

We'd like to thank whoever it is that made this page [unfortunately they

don't say who they are]; they've really done a marvelous job of counting

how many times someone's name appears in the DBS. There's some minor

mistakes [Vicki Wilson is listed twice, for instance, and we have never

even _thought_ an unkind word about Jim Powell] but all in all, we

are very flattered.

"I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say

is they must change if they are to get better."

---G. C. Lichtenberg

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

-----

From merope@Radix.Net Thu Oct 7 09:22:07 1999

Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 09:22:05 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991006211054.2139A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Rumors and slanders and slurs, oh my!...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* this most definitely contains editorial content. Read at your

risk!

Tuesday 5 October 1999:

There is no Board-L traffic on this date.

Tomorrow's News Today: This morning [Oct 7] the NC has asked the

listowner of the NE/NC regional mailing list to put out a call for

persons who are interested in filling the vacant NE/NC rep position.

[wouldn't it be interesting if David Young was the only volunteer?]

Clarification Corner: We are informed that our reporting on the WIGW SC

election is not complete. Tim Stowell is running as part of an "SC team"

with Tina Vickery and Kelly Mullins. Neither Tina nor Kelly have any

apparent ties to WI [neither is a CC] and Tim joined the "team" on Oct 3,

after they announced their candidacies. Tim himself has but one county in

WI. Some folks in WI seem to think that our esteemed NC is a "ringer",

brought in to give the "team" some credibility among the WI CCs.

Currently, the "team" is running unopposed, and if that situation

continues, WI will be blessed with not one but two Board members in the

state's leadership role.

How The Mighty Have Fallen Corner: We hear that Bob "Not Having Fun"

Bamford is crying foul because the "starz" count on the DBS fan page only

goes back to Sept 1999 and he so rarely gets mentioned anymore. Well,

Bob, here's a freebie! [or would that count as two?]

Starz For Good Behavior Corner: Here's today's Starz count:

Tim Stowell 4

Bob Bamford 1 (maybe 2)

Tina Vickery 2

Kelly Mullins 2

Woody Allen 1

[don't forget to visit the DBS fan page at:

http://www.aol.com/bobbieblack!]

"More than any time in history mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads

to despair and utter hopelessness, the other to total extinction. Let us

pray that we have the wisdom to choose correctly."

---Woody Allen

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

--------------

From merope@Radix.Net Fri Oct 8 19:04:15 1999

Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1999 19:04:14 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991008061515.6407A-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Yes, Big Brother _is_ watching you...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* Editorial content, served spicy or mild. Read at your risk!

Wednesday 6 October 1999:

There is no Board traffic on this date.

Update On the News: We've been told that the COGW state pages are being

quietly being moved back to Root$web.

Throw Your Hat In the Ring Corner: We've learned that the "dream team" of

Tina Vickery, Kelly Mullins and Tim Stowell, which is running for SC in

Wisconsin, will not be running unopposed after all. Someone else is

entering the race.

The New Zoo Review Corner: There's a most interesting New Zoo Review out

this week. In this week's edition, Root$web announces that it is

beta-testing "unlimited free webspace". The offer applies to both the

genealogical and non-genealogical communites, but "is particularly aimed

at encouraging our users to post genealogical information that, owing to

its storage and bandwidth requirements, has been prohibitively expensive

to bring on line." Still no GEDCOMS allowed, but they promise a wondrous

new tool for that in the near future. Of course, all this wonderful free

webspace comes with a wee catch: they all come with ad banners top and

bottom. [You'll recall that ad banners in the past that RW has so

tastefully decided to display over genealogical records included an ad for

a riverboat casino, an ad displaying women's underwear, and an ad showing

a prostitute plying her trade--see below]. Its also a beta test and they

reserve the right to change the offering in any way at any time. A

further caveat is that you specifically can't use the pages to make fun of

Robert Tillman. [darn.]

Also in the New Zoo Review this week, they announce the winner of the

banner contest. Obviously the best one won! You can see them all [well,

almost all] here: http://images.rootsweb.com/contest/ There's an

interesting thing though: one of the images is missing. For more than

half of the month of September, Root$web displayed as part of its rotation

a banner depicting a prostitute soliciting funds on its behalf.

Apparently they found nothing offensive in this. A slightly modified

version of it, by the original artist, is here:

http://www.radix.net/~merope/rw4.htm

Finally, in other interesting news in the NZR this week, if you really

want to see what Root$web looks like, they've posted some photos here:

http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/noc [yes, there are pictures of Pinky

_and_ the Brain.]

Starry-Eyed Corner: Today's Starz Count:

Tim Stowell 1

Kelly Mullins 1

Tina Vickery 1

Robert Tillman 1

The Brain 1

Pinky 1

Virgil 1

[don't forget to visit the DBS' fan page at:

http://hometown.aol.com/bobbieblack [to all you who said you couldn't get

there from here yesterday, this url should work.]

"I fear the Greeks even when bearing gifts"

---Virgil

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

---------

From merope@Radix.Net Sat Oct 9 09:08:42 1999

Date: Sat, 9 Oct 1999 09:08:41 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991009080905.14221C-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Do ya feel lucky?...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains editorial content. Read at your own risk!

Thursday 7 October 1999:

NC Tim Stowell posts, "If no one has an objection to this method of

selection, would the listowner of the NE/NC region please place such a

call on that regional list?"

Terri Pettit [in response to Shari Handley's message of Oct 3] writes, "I

agree it would be good to put out a call and ask people who want to be the

NE/NC rep to submit the descriptions above, but it would also be good to

at the same time ask the CC's of that region whether they prefer having a

special election versus letting the board pick a replacement." She notes

that although elections are time-consuming and many CCs may not want to go

through another one so soon, "others might think it's worth the time it

takes, in order to have more say in who their CC Rep is." She also

suggests that, in the case the CCs don't want an election, "then we should

at least send the "resumes" to the NE/NC state lists and ask for CC input

in making our decision, and give very high weight to what we hear. It is,

after all, the CC's of that region whom the Rep is representing."

Tina Vickery, NE/NV regional list administrator, asks if there is a

deadline for submission of letters of interest an also says that the

announcement should also go to the state lists in the region.

Terri Pettit responds that there should either be a deadline or some

minimum number of submissions so they will know when to start the

appointment/election process. She suggests Friday Oct 15 and a reminder

sent on Oct 13 if they don't have at least two submissions by then. She

asks if sending the announcement requires a formal motion to authorize it.

Finally, she wonders if Ed Book is taking minutes yet, and if so, what

he's doing with them.

Betsy Mills points out that "the by-laws do not allow for a special

election except for National Coordinator. We added the Reps to the last

special election only because one was being held for National Coordinator.

That does not apply this time."

Ginger Hayes notes that Betsy is correct and there is no provision in the

bylaws for an election in this circumstance. She suggests, "a call for

volunteers be issued on the SC list, asking the SC's of the region to

forward to their state lists, and to the NE/NC list." She also thinks it

"might be a good idea" to ask the CCs for suggestions on candidates.

Gloria Mayfield agrees that it is a good idea to "ask the SC's and CC's of

the region to suggest candidates for the position and that the SC's of the

region forward to their state lists and to the NE/NC list, the call for

candidates."

Terri Pettit [racking up the Starz point, this girl!] notes that although

the bylaws say the Board appoints replacements to vacant seats, they are

silent on how the Board must choose the person to appoint. She says, "we

ought to ask the NE/NC CC's how they'd LIKE us to go about making the

appointment. It's their representative we're appointing, and there's

nearly a full year of the term left to go, so we want to make sure that

even the CC's who disagree with the final choice at least feel that they

had a say in the process. Otherwise whoever gets appointed may be faced

with being labeled "the Board's hand-picked yes-man" instead of the NE/NC

CC's Rep, even if they're exactly the SAME person that most of the

region's CC's would have picked given a choice."

Starry-Eyed Corner: Its a busy Starz day today! Here's today's count:

Tim Stowell 1

Terri Pettit 3

Shari Handley 1

Tina Vickery 1

Ed Book 1

Betsy Mills 1

Ginger Hayes 1

Gloria Mayfield 1

Thomas Paine 1

Visit the DBS' fan page at: http://hometown.aol.com/~bobbieblack

[unfortunately, they are woefully behind in updating it]

"That government is best which governs least."

---Thomas Paine

This has been your Daily Board SHow.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

---------

From merope@Radix.Net Sun Oct 10 13:05:26 1999

Date: Sun, 10 Oct 1999 13:05:25 -0400 (EDT)

From: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

Reply-To: merope <merope@Radix.Net>

To: Daily Board Show <usgw_all@listbot.com>

Subject: Daily Board Show

Message-ID: <Pine.SV4.3.96.991010081102.21209B-100000@saltmine.radix.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

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Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale...its Your Daily Board Show!

*warning* contains large doses of undiluted editorial content. Read at

your own risk!

Friday 8 October 1999:

Maggie Zimmerman posts that Betsy Mills was "exactly right" when she

pointed out that the bylaws do not allow for an election to fill the

vacancy left when Bonnie McVicar-Briggs resigned. She says "The NE/NC CCs

need to submit some candidates and then those candidates should submit

their qualifications. Then the AB should select the replacement from

those candidates." [No, mustn't have an election. The CCs might pick

someone they'd prefer not to have to appoint.]

Done Deal Corner: Looks like they've decided not to go with the election

idea after all. The following announcement went out to the State

Coordinators' list this morning:

"The USGenWeb Project Advisory Board is requesting that individuals

interested in filling the Vacant NE/NC County Coordinator Representative

position on the USGenWeb Project Advisory Board, please submit a letter

outlining your qualifications/involvement with the USGenWeb Project, and

why you wish to represent your fellow County Coordinators in the NE/NC

Region.

We encourage all County Coordinators in the region to take an active role

in letting the USGenWeb Project Advisory Board know who you would like to

have represent you. The individual selected will be representing all of

you.

The states in the NE/NC Region are Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine,

Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania,

Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin.

ARTICLE VI: DUTIES/QUALIFICATIONS OF ADVISORY BOARD

http://www.usgenweb.org/official/bylaws.html outlines the qualifications

of a County Coordinator Representative.

Please submit your letter of interest by October 16, 1999, to either Tim

Stowell, National Coordinator <tstowell@chattanooga.net> and the Board

Secretary, Ed Book <edbook@clarion-net.com>"

[Polish up your resumes everyone! It will be most interesting to see who

the Board comes up with.]

Big Starz Corner: Today's counts:

Maggie Zimmerman 1

Betsy Mills 1

Bonnie McVicar-Briggs 1

Tim Stowell 1

Ed Book 1

George Bernard Shaw 1

[visit the DBS' fan page at http://members.aol.com/~bobbieblack/]

"Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by

the corrupt few."

---George Bernard Shaw

This has been your Daily Board Show.

-Teresa Lindquist

merope@radix.net

----------